


No Time for Heartbreak

by thenakednymph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Heartbroken Lance, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Porn with Feelings, Touch-Starved Keith (Voltron), hug him damn it!, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 21:20:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20442713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: Keith ignores Lance upon his return from the Abyss. But not for the reason Lance thinks.





	No Time for Heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Yes it’s another one of those Keith should have hugged Lance moments. This time with spice and pining. Don’t tell me Keith didn’t fall in love with Lance in the Abyss. He did. He totally did. Fight me.

“I don’t have time for this Lance.” Keith brushes past him and Lance feels the hope, the spark of joy that’s been burning inside him since the video call came through, wither and die. He doesn’t know why he expected any different. 

Keith marches past him, almost shoulder checking him as he makes his way to the others. Lance hates how much it hurts, how often it’s happened in the past few months. The brush off only sharpens that strange feeling of alienation in his chest. He's been struggling with it since Keith left, like he doesn’t have a place anywhere.

He feels like a cog without its match, spinning idly, the machine broken without its other pieces. He doesn’t fit right inside his own skin anymore and he doesn’t know how to fix it.

He’d hoped...but that was foolish. There’s no reason things would go back to the way they were just because Keith is back on the ship. There’s not even a guarantee he’ll stay. That hurts more than the brush off. Lance has to swallow the visceral fear and pain crawling up the back of his throat.

“Yeah,” he whispers, eyes tracking the broad expanse of Keith’s shoulders walking away from him. “No one ever does.”

He swallows thickly, reaching deep for the character he’s expected to play and slaps a smile on his face. He jogs over to join the others, same as he’s always done.

~

Lance is floating among the stars, various clouds of light and color drifting past, visible only because of the ship’s filters. The illusion is only broken by the cold metal beneath him as he’s surrounded by the deep void of space from all sides.

The door hisses open, throwing a slash of light into the room that makes Lance flinch. He blocks the light with a hand, squinting against the brightness.

“Lance?”

Lance tries not to groan. Keith is the last person he wants to see right now. It’s why he’s hiding in the heart of the ship. 

He turns away from the door, his arm flopping back to the floor. A few seconds pass in awkward silence and Lance realizes he isn’t going to go away.

“You gonna stand there all day or come inside?” he asks dryly. “You’re ruining the illusion.”

After a moment Keith steps into the room, the doors hissing shut behind him and throwing them back into darkness.

The illusion becomes seamless and for a moment Keith feels like he’s drifting in space all over again. The sensation is uncomfortable and Keith loses his balance.

Lance turns to look at a gas giant drifting by. “How’d you find me?”

He hears Keith walk unsteadily across the room towards him. “Just exploring.” Keith looks around, taking in the variations of light and stars all around him. “I never did get a chance to see as much of the ship as I could have when I was here.”

Lance hums noncommittally as Keith sinks down beside him. He hates how tense it makes him. He wants to be alone. But he can’t say that because Lance never wants to be alone. He has to pretend everything is okay, that it’s normal. Has to pretend Keith sitting beside him doesn’t burn after so long in the cold.

“But I’m glad I found you.”

That finally has Lance turning to look at him. He realizes Keith is no longer in his Blade of Marmora armor. Instead he’s donned a pair or dark jeans and a soft black shirt. He looks comfortable and relaxed, his hair freshly washed.

“Why?” It comes out dry with want and Lance has to clear his throat and look away.

“I owe you an apology.”

Lance’s eyebrows come together. He tilts his head across the floor, as if by changing the angle he can figure out what Keith means.

“For what?”

Keith looks uncomfortable and he shifts his weight. “You went to hug me when I landed.”

Lance tries to deny it, to protect the wound in his heart but Keith won’t let him.

“And I- I wanted to…”

Lance’s lips purse in a frown. “Why didn’t you?”

Keith picks at a nail, staring at his hands. “Because I didn’t…” He takes a breath, forcing his voice steady. “Didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Lance snorts like he doesn’t believe him.

“I was afraid it was going to mean more to me than it did to you,” Keith rasps, the truth grating out of him, awkward in its vulnerability. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” The alcohol Lance has been drinking makes it come out meaner than he’d intended.

Keith finally lifts his eyes and they’re so deeply sad it has Lance sitting up. “I missed you.” His voice comes out raw. “And I knew if I hugged you I was gonna lose it.”

Keith had come back filled out and bigger than Lance remembered but now, here in the dark, he looks and sounds small. “If I started I was never gonna stop.” There’s something vulnerable in his voice Lance doesn’t understand. It’s hard to make out his expression in the dark. “I had to stay focused.”

“So you brushed me off instead.” Lance can’t help the bite to the words.

Keith doesn’t flinch but it’s a near thing. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I didn’t-” He bites his lip, fingers brushing against Lance’s knee in apology. “I hadn’t intended for it to hurt you. I just-” He withdraws his hand and doesn’t finish.

The silence that settles between them is awkward and Lance struggles for another topic of conversation. He’s still hurting, the blow to his pride and already wounded heart aching in his chest. But he doesn’t want Keith to leave. He’d missed him too. Terribly. And now this...whatever it is has him feeling wrong-footed. So he latches onto whatever he can.

“You’re not wearing the armor anymore.” He winces after it comes out, the alcohol fuzzing his thoughts and making him feel stupid. “I mean of course you’re not. It just-” He waves his hand through the air, brain failing to find the words.

Keith looks down at himself as if to make sure Lance is right, arms lifting away from his body. Lance’s mouth goes dry at the way the shirt stretches across his chest. A string of Spanish curses run through his head and he looks away. Maybe drinking was a bad idea.

“Oh. Yeah.” Keith’s arms fall to his sides now that he’s confirmed he is indeed no longer wearing the suit. His nose wrinkles. “Honestly I’d be happy never to put it on again.” His lips peel back from his teeth and a long sigh escapes him.

Lance tries to ignore how that makes his heart skip. The attention to his heartbeat leaves his lowered inhibitions to run free and his mouth wanders off unsupervised.

“You look better in cotton and denim anyway.”

Keith makes a startled noise and Lance wants to slap himself across the face. He did not just say that.

“Really?”

Instead of shutting up like he should Lance’s mouth runs away from him again, like a dog without a leash. “Not that you don’t look good in the suit. Or black. God, you look so good in black.” Lance can feel himself flush but the alien alcohol he’d been drinking earlier is finally hitting him full force and he can’t shut up. He wonders if it’s laced with sodium pentathol.

“Purple too. Brings out your eyes.” He forcibly stares at the floor to keep from getting lost in Keith’s eyes as a purple and pink nebula chooses that moment to drift by.

Lance’s heart is pounding so hard he can feel it throbbing painfully in his cheeks.

Keith blinks at him dumbly. “You think so?”

Lance scowls at him. “I know so. When you came back from the trials? I know you were totally busted up, which,” he jabs a finger at Keith, “scared the absolute  _ hell _ out of me by the way." His arm thumps back to the floor. "I totally forgot to breathe at the sight of you. It’s not fair,” he whines. “No one should look that good in black.”

Lance glares at the floor but apparently his mouth isn’t done yet. He grinds his teeth together trying to keep the last of it back. It doesn’t work. 

“Prettier than I remember. Didn’t think that was possible.” Lance presses his fingers into his eyes, trying to forcefully will himself to shut up. He has to bite his tongue to keep it from admitting anything else utterly humiliating.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, cheeks flushing when he finally has his tongue back under control. “I may have been drinking.” He presses his fingers into his eyes until it hurts. “My filters aren’t exactly working. I shouldn’t have said that.”

For the first time Keith notices the empty glass and the bottle sitting nearby. He stares at Lance for a moment, tongue unexpectedly thick in his mouth as he tries to process everything Lance has said.

Lance avoids looking at him, drawing little patterns on the ground with his fingers as the silence stretches. He wants to get up and run but he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to walk. So he’s forced to sit in his own burning humiliation. 

Tears burn at his eyes and he hates himself. Why did he say that? God, why did he say that!? He grinds the heels of his hands into his eyes so hard it hurts. He’s debating trying to run in spite of his rubber legs when Keith speaks. 

“So are you.”

Lance’s head snaps up, his hands fumbling to a halt at the same time as his heart trips over itself. “What?”

Keith’s eyes smile. “You’re prettier than I remember too,” he says softly and Lance nearly swallows his tongue.

Lance’s blush darkens and a strangled noise makes its way out of him. He ducks his head again, his mind racing to catch up to the possibilities. It sounds absurd. It  _ feels _ absurd. There’s no way Keith is into him but Lance is just tipsy enough to take the chance. Because if Keith is...maybe this wasn’t all for nothing. 

He can feel Keith staring at him in the dark, the stars passing through him. The silence is weighted, stretched with tension and hope. Lance feels his heart pound and his body flushes with heat. 

He clears his throat. Being drunk means he isn’t at his best but he throws a line into the water anyway. 

“Well, look at that,” he says, false bravado lacing back into his voice. The words are slow and careful. “Two pretty people...sitting together.” A smile curls in the corner of his mouth. He’s still staring at the ground, shoulders wound tight. This feels so stupid. What is he doing. 

Keith hums thoughtfully. Lance didn’t think a sound like that could be warm and inviting, almost flirty. But somehow it is. His heart trips over again, stumbling and awkward as a baby deer. 

“What are we gonna do about that?” Keith asks, his voice soft. Lance can hear the shallowness of his breathing. 

Lance looks up at him from under his eyebrows wondering if he’s dreaming. He blinks but Keith is still there, his eyes soft. There’s a distant hunger behind them Lance thinks he might be imagining.

“I have some ideas,” he whispers and to his never ending surprise, Keith seems interested.

“Yeah?” Keith’s heart rate begins to climb with anticipation. He hopes this is going where he thinks it is. His fingers twitch in his lap. He’s not sure which one of them is leaning but they’re both closer than they were before.

Lance nods, expression turning coy. He grows braver with every moment Keith doesn’t turn him away. “Yeah.”

“Mmm.” Keith twists his fingers in his lap, his eyes darting to Lance’s mouth of their own accord. “You gonna tell me?”

Lance’s head lifts further, drawing them closer together. Keith realizes he’s started leaning as well.

“I’d rather show you.” Lance scoots a little closer and Keith has to swallow back his heart as Lance leans into his space.

“Close your eyes,” he whispers.

Keith’s heart pounds and he’s giddy with adrenaline. “But if I close my eyes I can’t see what you’re gonna show me,” he teases.

He can feel his own breath bounce back at him as it hits Lance’s mouth and it makes something in his gut twist. He fists his hands together to keep from grabbing for Lance’s shirt, dragging him in.

Lance giggles, mildly exasperated. “Keith, shut up and let me kiss you.”

Keith laughs but closes his eyes. He feels every other sense heighten. He can feel the heat of Lance near him, smell the deep warm spice of whatever cologne he’s found and taken to wearing. God, he’d forgotten what Lance smelled like. It’s overwhelming now and want makes his brow furrow and his fingers curl against the floor. He can feel Lance, his breath bouncing against Keith’s lips and he’s just holding himself there, waiting. Keith grows desperate with every passing second Lance goes without touching him. He’s wound tight enough to shake until he’s ready to beg. 

“Lance-”

Lance kisses him, stealing the sound of his name from Keith’s mouth. The moment they make contact Keith’s whines, too overwhelmed to be embarrassed by how badly he wants him. His eyes burn as the deep well of loneliness he’s been harboring for the past two years in the abyss splits open.

Lance rushes in the fill the void, his hand cupping Keith’s cheek as he drags in a ragged gasp. His fingers curl painfully in Lance’s shirt, dragging him in. 

When Lance’s fingers find the damp of Keith’s tears he pulls away. Keith is shaking too hard to pull him back in.

“Keith?” Lance cups his face with both hands. “What’s-?”

Keith shakes his head, wiping at his face, mortified and overwhelmed. “Sorry,” he chokes, his skin buzzing under Lance’s fingers and leaving him dizzy.

“Been a long time since someone touched me.”

Lance’s heart aches, his lips parting in sympathy before drawing into a stubborn line.

“Come here.” He draws Keith into him, kissing him, slowly leaning back until his spine touches the floor. Using his hands Lance coaxes Keith into coming to rest against him, cradling him between his knees.

“I missed you,” Keith chokes, tears still in his voice. “God, I missed you every day.” He presses another kiss to Lance’s mouth. “Seeing you out there, in the waves and the flashes wasn’t enough because you weren’t  _ there. _ ” The words drag out of him painfully but it’s like he has to say it, has to get it out. His fingers drag hard over Lance’s chest, forcing himself to believe it's real. That for once Lance is actually there. 

“I wanted you to be there-“ He chokes on the words. “And then you were. I saw you.” His forehead presses to Lance’s and he holds himself there. He’s shaking with the weight of it all, the desperation and want and loneliness. The need has been building inside him for years. And now that Lance’s hands are on him he’s breaking. 

“It should have been a comfort but it wasn’t because I couldn’t  _ touch _ you.”

Lance kisses him fiercely, one hand fisting in Keith’s shirt, holding him firm as Keith grows weak. When they part Keith is gasping for breath.

“I fell in love with you out there,” he whispers, his forehead resting against Lance’s. “And I couldn’t hug you when I came back because if I did I was gonna kiss you and I wasn’t gonna stop and I didn’t-” He bites his lips, eyes squeezed shut. Tears stream down his face, dripping into Lance’s cheeks. 

“I didn’t know if you wanted me back.” He chokes on the words, feeling them knot in his throat.

“And I couldn’t take the idea that you didn’t. I didn’t want to do this in front of all of them. You deserved a chance to answer me on your own terms. On your own time but-” Keith stumbles over the words, eyes still tightly shut. “God I’m so in love with you.” His voice comes out a pained whine, almost a plea. He’s afraid the confession will ruin everything, that Lance will run but when Keith pulls back his eyes are just soft and warm and surprised.

“You did?” Lance’s voice comes out thick with gravel, eyebrows pulling together.

“Yeah, I did.” Keith has to bite back the urge to cry again. “I missed you so much it hurt.”

Lance wraps his arms around Keith, rolling them carefully. He uses one hand to cradle the back of Keith’s head as he lowers him down. He kisses his way down Keith’s throat to his chest, pulling away the collar of his shirt to better reach more of that sweet skin.

Keith falls apart under Lance’s hands, the ministrations of his mouth. Lance never stops touching him the way he needs. His hands rove over Keith’s chest, the sides of his throat, into his hair.

“I’m glad you’re home,” Lance chokes, tears pricking his eyes. He shivers, pulling back to look at Keith. Arousal is coursing through him and a bone-deep want.

“We don’t have to do anything,” Lance manages, voice still rough.

Keith blushes, running his fingers up into Lance’s hair, the strength Lance is so used to seeing slowly returning to him. 

“Not sure I’m ready for that,” Keith admits softly. He swallows and Lance’s eyes track the movement. “Not yet.” He takes a ragged breath. “But don’t stop.” His eyes reflect the stars all around them and Lance feels his knees go weak. “Please don’t stop touching me,” he whispers.

Lance groans, hooking a hand under Keith’s knee and bringing it up as he kisses him deeply.

His hands stroke over Keith’s skin, every touch making him gasp or shiver and Lance can’t stop. He’s rapidly growing addicted to the little whines and sounds coming out of Keith.

“Let me know,” he pants against Keith’s throat, “if you get overwhelmed.” Keith makes another of those little noises and Lance presses more tightly against him. “Cause I could do this for hours. And I swear it’s not just the alcohol talking.” Keith's fingers find their way into his hair and he drags Lance’s mouth back to his.

Lance kisses him until he can’t breathe and has to pull away with a deep gasp.

“Can I-?” The hand under Keith’s knee flexes and his hips twitch. They’re both hard but Lance needs permission.

Keith’s head thumps painfully against the floor.

“God, yes.”

Lance buries his face in the crook of Keith’s neck with a groan, rolling his hips in a slow grind. Keith arches off the floor with a strangled noise, his fingers tight in Lance’s hair.

“Oh f-fuck. Lance-" He makes a jagged cry and Lance does it again. He picks up the pace, babbling against Keith’s throat as he ruts against him.

“Beautiful. So fucking- gorgeous Keith,” he pants. “Mouth went dry when you stepped off the shuttle.” His voice wavers and Keith lifts his other leg, spreading his knees wider.

“Wanted you so bad- years, wanted you for years,” he groans.

Keith claws at Lance’s shoulders as he rocks against him, nails digging into his skin through his shirt.

“Lance-”

“God I’m so-” He groans, swallowing the confession back, not ready to admit he’s in love with Keith too. Instead he snaps his hips into Keith’s, making him cry out.

“Were always beautiful.” He squeezes his eyes shut, regret twisting his stomach. “Should have asked you to stay.” He chokes on the words, on the truth of them. “Wanted you to stay.”

Tears thicken Lance’s voice and he presses more of his weight into Keith as if to keep him there.

“Don’t go,” he begs and Keith feels tears against his throat. “Don’t go, Keith. Please. Ple-”

Keith twists his head, grabbing a fistful of Lance’s hair, wrenching it to the side and biting him. He sucks at the skin so hard it hurts, the pain sharp. It leaves a dark bruise behind.

Lance makes a pained cry, tears streaming down his cheeks. His hips stutter as Keith starts moving beneath him, rising to meet Lance’s faltering rhythm. He grabs a fistful of Lance’s jeans at the hip, pressing his foot into the floor for leverage and grinds up as Lance rocks down. He’s chasing the high Lance has him riding, both of them dizzy with lust.

“I won’t.” His breath cools the wet spot on Lance’s skin his mouth has left behind, raising goosebumps. “Lance, I won’t,” he promises and Lance cries.

He pulls away just far enough to slip a hand between them and strokes Keith through his jeans. He gives a firm squeeze, biting the lobe of Keith’s ear as he does.

“Fuck!”

Keith shudders, his entire body quivering and twitching again and again as he cums.

Lance drags in breath after breath as Keith slowly goes limp beneath him. Lance’s hands are shaking as he runs his palm down Keith’s hip to his knee and back. He cups the back of Keith’s thigh, feeling the muscle quiver and flex. He groans at the strength in Keith’s legs, squeezing firmly. He peppers lingering kisses to one side of Keith’s throat, working his way to the other as Keith comes down.

“Oh my god,” he breathes, staring distantly through the stars above them. Lance smiles against his skin, flicking his tongue into the shell of Keith’s ear. It makes him shudder as his legs thump to the floor.

“Think I lied,” Keith gasps.

Lance hums curiously against Keith’s throat, still pressing slow kisses there. Keith tips his head into Lance’s sweaty hair, nosing into it.

“Really want you to fuck me.”


End file.
